NAGPUR: Governor CP Radhakrishnan administered the oath to 39 ministers at Nagpur’s Raj Bhavan on Sunday. The final portfolio distribution is expected in two days, CM Devendra Fadnavis told reporters at his official residence here, hours after the swearing-in ceremony.
Sources said Fadnavis is likely to retain the home portfolio despite resistance from his deputy Eknath Shinde.
Both the Shiv Sena and NCP are expected to change some ministers after 2.5 years in order to give more MLAs an opportunity to prove their administrative skills.
The first rumblings in the Sena-Shinde camp were felt in Bhandara, where a three-time MLA, Narendra Bhondekar, resigned from all party posts to protest his omission from the ministry.
The swearing-in ceremony, strategically held a day before the winter session of the assembly, drew attention for its blend of experience and fresh blood with state. BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who was the first to take oath, making a comeback after being dropped in 2019. With 33 cabinet ministers and six MoS, the Mahayuti ensured a balance among BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP, marking a critical step in stabilising the coalition govt.
Six first-time ministers – BJP’s Meghana Bordikar, Madhuri Misal, and Pankaj Bhoyar; NCP’s Indranil Naik; Shiv Sena’s Ashish Jaiswal and Yogesh Kadam – took oath as MoS. Other fresh faces in the cabinet include Ashok Uike, Ashish Shelar, Shivendra Raje Bhonsale and Jaykumar Gore. The new govt will have four women ministers – BJP’s Pankaja Munde, Madhuri Misal, Meghana Bordikar, and NCP’s Aaditi Tatkare. There’s one Muslim in the Mahayuti govt – Hasan Mushrif of the Ajit Pawar camp.
Another senior BJP leader to make a comeback in the cabinet is former minister and MLC Pankaja Munde, who was a cabinet minister in Fadnavis-led BJP-Sena govt in 2014. She took oath with her brother, Dhananjay Munde, who had sworn in from NCP. Even veteran Ganesh Naik, who was minister in the Manohar Joshi-led, Vilasrao Deshmukh-led and Ashok Chavan-led govts, was included. Former tourism minister Jaykumar Rawal has also made a comeback.
BJP has retained most of its big names in the Shinde cabinet, including Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Chandrakant Patil, Girish Mahajan, Mangalprabhat Lodha, and Atul Save, cobbling up a strike of 48%. Sena has also retained the majority of its ministers of the former govt, but included new faces like party spokesperson Sanjay Shirsat, Bharat Gogawale, along with Pratap Sarnaik, Prakash Abitkar and Ashish Jaiswal. The party garnered a strike rate of 28.5%. Similarly, NCP has retained most of its former ministers, but granted opportunity to new faces – Narhari Zirwal, Manikrao Kokate, Dattatray Bharne, Makrand Jadhav Patil, Babasaheb Patil and Indranil Naik (MoS) from Pusad. The party garnered a strike rate of 23.8%.
